ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

???

The sound of the horn rings out across the fields of battle. General Julio looks out from his command tent at the city - its high walls have survived their bombardment for now, but he is sure that the main gate will have been taken soon. Then they will be one step closer to ending this war.

"Ready!" The voice of one of his captains drifts towards him across the winds. "Launch!"

With the roar of machinery, half a dozen Graveler are launched across from the trebuchets. They collide with the city's outer walls and explode on impact, falling to the ground beneath it, for now unconscious. Further away, the rhythmic banging of his army's Rhydon and Onix against the gates continues.

"Ready!" The voice comes again. Julio waits for the sound of the launch, but none comes. He frowns and rises from his seat, leaving his half eaten meal behind. What kind of slacking are his men getting up to?

He doesn't have to wait long, as the tent flap is thrown open by a messenger, who bows quickly.

"Sir," he says. "There's a person standing outside of the city."

The general frowns. "A person? Why would that cause us to stop our attacks?"

"Because they're asking to speak to you, sir. They say that they want to tell you to leave this city alone."

The general is incensed. Is this some kind of joke by the enemy to make him drop his guard? When he approaches this stranger, will arrows and attacks from their pokémon rain down upon him? Well, no matter. He will be protected, he thinks, as his Garganacl and Kleavor stand up from their places of rest to walk with him.

There is indeed a figure standing between the lines of his army and the city. They have been attacked by neither side, and Julio understands upon seeing them. There is an aura of sorts that pervades from the stranger, and stepping towards them brings the same sense of dread that he might feel should he stand on the edge of some deep precipice.

His attendants gather next to him, flying the white flag of parlay. He sees a messenger appear from the city as well - the lord of this city, Tristan, he thinks by the flag. What curiosity has this stranger evoked for them both to emerge?

There are many curious things about this stranger. The clothes that they wear are strange, with bright colours and strange patterns, and fits unlike any Julio has seen before. Then there is the rest of the body, which is largely covered in bandages as though the youth - for he can see now how young the stranger is - has been through some terrible accident. Nevertheless, he calls a halt to the Rhyhorn upon which he rides, at the same time that Tristan calls a stop to his Gogoat (flanked by Gourgeist and Breloom).

"Thank you both for coming," the stranger says.

Julio is first to respond, cutting of Tristan. "Who are you, child, and why do you interrupt this siege."

"I would like to ask the same thing," Tristan adds.

The stranger nods, as though considering the question. "I just thought I'd do formal introductions," they say. "You see, I recently arrived in this place, and since for now I have nowhere to go I don't really want the sounds of war on my doorstep, I'd appreciate if you could keep it quiet out here."

Julio laughs. "Are you some kind of jester, sent to amuse us? Or perhaps Tristan takes us for a fool and thinks such a simple ploy will dissuade us from attacking, in which case he is a greater idiot than I thought."

"I am no such fool!" Tristan proclaims. "I would rather have my city sacked than try something so base!"

"Right." The figure says. "Well then, how about you both declare war on me instead, since that's where this is going."

Both men laugh at once. "Declare war on a single child? Do not make us laugh - we have an army each, and even here we have our pokémon. Unless yours are hiding, you cannot expect to survive."

In response, the stranger taps their waistline. There is a flash of light, and then they are surrounded by six pokémon - some of which Julio recognises, but some that must be from some land he has never visited. Who is this child?

"Kleavor! Garganacl!" He barks. "Get them!"

Tristan sends his own partners to attack. It's no good - all four pokémon are down in seconds.

"Unless there's someone with some brains coming to talk to me," the stranger says, turning their pokémon into red light and having them vanish. "I suspect you leave me alone and keep it quiet. I don't mind coming after either one of you."

"What..." Julio looks at his defeated pokémon. They've been in dozens of battles, are weathered warriors, and they were beaten in moments. "What are you?"

The stranger turns to face him, and their eyes glow red. Some kind of darkness spills from them, taking the form of a single black wing with red claws attached, while their arm becomes a mass of writhing fabric. Both leaders scream, and the sight vanishes leaving only the stranger.

"My name's Hoops," they say, smiling sweetly at them. "I'll be in that cave over there."

They walk away, leaving Julio wondering how much time he should leave it before asking a servant for a change in breaches.

Cave, five minutes later

Hoops sighs and leans against the wall.

"Are you sure that was the best way to play that?" they ask. "Wouldn't something more diplomatic have been better?"

<No> Cof insists. <If we're in the time period that I think we are, then gathering notoriety is the best idea. It will increase your chances of someone with time travel finding us, while also increasing the likelihood that we encounter him.>

"And you won't tell me who this him is, will you?" Hoops asks.

Cof frowns. <Not yet. I prefer not to talk about him until until I have a better idea of what's going to happen. I don't want to give you information that could cause problems for the timeline.>

"Yeah, the timeline." Hoops lies down and closes their eyes. "You have first watch, okay Cof? Tomorrow is day two of trying to get home."

Cascaraffa, past

Kofu: -Recalling Veluza- Not bad, but the tide hasn't rolled in yet. Go Wugtrio!

Wugtrio: -Appears-

Iridium: Oedi, use Lunge again!

Oedi: -Charges at Wugtrio-

Kofu: Use Protect!

Wugtrio: -Ducks into its rocks as Oedi's Lunge fails to damage it-

Kofu: Now use Triple Dive!

Wugtrio: -Lashes out with water-

Oedi: -Faints-

Iridium: Go Del Lurra!

Del Lurra: -Appears-

Iridium: -Use Yawn-

Del Lurra: -Yawning- <Bedtime now~>

Kofu: Let's serve up another Triple Dive!

Wugtrio: -Sends out more water-

Del Lurra: -Just sits there and takes it- <Ah, refreshing~>

Iridium: Use Curse!

Del Lurra: -Mutters an incantation-

Wugtrio: -Falls asleep-

Iridium: Now use Trailblaze!

Del Lurra: -Glows green as she rams the sleeping Wugtrio-

Wugtrio: -Wakes up after taking major damage and responds with a Slam-

Del Lurra: -Is hit- <Oof!>

Iridium: Trailblaze again!

Del Lurra: -Rams Wugtrio-

Wugtrio: -Faints-

The GM House

Deziree: Paldea. I don't know the first thing about Paldea...

-She pulls up a map of the region.-

Deziree: Uuuuuuuuh...

-She jabs a finger on a city that looks like it's sitting on a floating platform at the mouth of a river.-

Deziree: That one!

Deziree: Ms. Fowling! See if there's a workshop I can rent out in Levincia for a day!

Edited by DuneTheWanderer on Feb 14th 2024 at 2:30:09 AM

Silas stood, waiting, hands in pockets. He didn't mind the windbreaker but he needed to get his hands on his leather jacket again, his missed the distinct customizations he made.

~Whatcha thinking about?~ Hacks asked.

"Coats."

~...Okay fair they are pretty cool.~

Somewhere in Levincia

-WUH-THOOMP!-

-Deziree, with her Portable Workshop Backpack^TM, stumbles a little as she drops a few inches to the ground.-

Selene: <Woops! Sorry, I thought we'd be a tad bit higher than it was!>

Deziree: Eh, no worries. When did you come here, anyway?

Selene: <I was gift shopping. Didn't find what I needed though.>

Deziree: ... Why did you come to Paldea to gift shop?

Selene: <That's a secret, Gal~ Anyway, just shoot me a line when you're ready to go back!>

Deziree: I might need to catch a Teleporter so I don't have to keep calling you every time I need to leave Orre...

Selene: <If you've got the TM, there are a whole lot of good options! Except Xatu.>

Deziree: Except Xatu?

Selene: <Don't get a Xatu.>

-Her gaze unfocuses as the shadows encroach before she snaps back to the present.-

Selene: <Anyway, have fun!>

-She leaps off to a nearby rooftop and disappears from sight.-

Deziree: ... Gonna have to remember to ask her about that later. Anyway, now if I were a cyborg man with an obsession with trenchcoats, where would be brooding...?

Coincidentally, right behind her.

"Uhm... right behind you? And I don't brood."

~You do brood, it comes with the monotone nature and perpetual scowl.~

Silas shot Hacks a look, Hacks smiled. ~See like that, that's pretty broodish.~

"The trenchcoats aren't-"

~You used to wear them, a lot. However those shorter leather jackets have looked waaaaaaaaay better on you.~

Silas grumbled a bit and looked to Deziree. "Deziree right? I don't think we've been properly introduced before," he said extending a hand.

Levincia

-Deziree turns around.-

Deziree: Oh, hey! You must be Silas. Ludmilla told me about you.

-She shakes Silas's hand.-

Deziree: Deziree Galvani-Morton. I've got a rented workshop not far from here, and all of my personal effects to work on anything you've got.

-She pats the side of your backpack.-

"Ah Ludmilla, again thanks a lot for the help there. What did you think of the thank you gift? A pound of beskar can go a long way," Silas responded, actually smiling a bit.

~Focus on that later, I've heard about Deziree, and knowing you, I don't want you getting wrapped up in another all night project!~ Hacks interrupted.

"I don't have my workshop," Silas protested. "Besides, sleep is for the weak when a project needs to-"

~Do not!~

Silas sighed. "Right, so, workshop. I need to figure out what was installed into my body, I've been testing out the new things but I don't know what causes what just yet."

He gestured for Deziree. "Lead the way."

Levincia

Deziree: Unlabeled hardware, huh? That's an interesting challenge. Here, I think it's...

-She pops a visor onto her face and looks around.-

Deziree: We need to go... uh...

-She turns left and right to figure out which way is north and south.-

Deziree: This way!

-She pulls the visor off and heads toward a short, stocky building with a garage door.-

Deziree: But anyway, yeah, the beskar! I'm still doing stress tests on it to see just how its properties hash out, but it is a really good insulator for being a metal! It isn't immune to electricity or intense heat, but it sure is good at not melting.

-She gets to the garage door, punches in a quick code at the door pad, and the garage door opens into a simple, prefab workshop.-

Deziree: Oh, this'll do nicely!

"Oh I know, the density and weight alone makes it clear it is a very enduring metal, I had a special forge installed on my ship to smelt with it, I've constructed everything from a full suit of Mandalorian armor to even the darksaber itself. As well as personal projects for a few friends and-"

~Ahem, focus.~ Hacks interrupted once more.

"You're no fun you know that," Silas grumbled.

~No I'm plenty of fun, it's just that we escaped from a Templar fortress with foreign technology that gives you super speed or something and we need to get that handled!~ Hacks added.

Silas stepped in and whistled, he was a bit of a gearhead himself, he appreciated a good workshop, reminded him of working with his uncle, Martin Sr. and his old auto shop. He always enjoyed helping him build project cars.

Levincia

-Deziree tosses her backpack onto the ground, where it then hops into the air and a table unfolds underneath it. After landing back on the ground with a series of dull thuds as the table legs hit, the backpack itself unfurls into a bunch of tools ranging from generic to... "specialized".-

-Deziree walks over and picks up what looks like a glove, but with a metallic exoskeleton framework built around it. She slips it on, and the metallic framework sings a song of clicks and whirs as she flexes her fingers.-

Deziree: Ah, it's been a hot second since I've gotten to use this. Oh, right.

-With her other hand she tosses out a Pokeball and an Electabuzz pops out.-

Deziree: You're gonna be my assistant today, Dimo.

-The Electabuzz salutes.-

Dimo: <Hyu's gots it, ma'am.>

"From the sounds of it, you're relishing the opportunity to get used to it, I think," Silas commented. "Boring back home?"

Hacks waved a bit to Dimo. ~Assistant, man, that's usually what Snakeye and Bishop are for you.~

As if on cue, out flew Bishop who darted over to the table to observe the tools. "Very impressive! Captain we should get a few of these for the Wing."

"When we find it Bishop," Silas commented. "Don't mind my Porygon friend there, his manner of addressing people has just been a quirk we've all lived with."

"You like being called Captain, Captain," Bishop countered.

Silas was quickly realizing he'd probably be getting no respect from any of his pokemon. "Okay, so... are we gonna have me lie down on a table, how are we inspecting what's stuck in my body?"

"Maybe start with telling the good Doctor over here what you do know about these implants?" Bishop suggested.

Levincia

Deziree: Porygon with weird speech patterns aren't anything new to me. And yes, starting with the hardware might be preferable. Also, Dimo? Find us a table.

-The Electabuzz salutes and runs off.-

Deziree: I meant from inside the... oh, whatever, there's no stopping him now anyway. But yes, while we wait - and I get this thing calibrated - let's start with what this hardware is, what it does, if there are any burning sensations or flagged software interactions coming from it...

-She trails off as she fidgets with the glove.-

Deziree: Damn, I haven't used this thing since before I had Phosphora...

-There's a cl-ank! and the frame starts moving more freely, allowing Deziree's fingers to move more naturally.-

Deziree: There we go!

"Tell us Captain, what do you know?" Bishop said.

Silas scratched the back of his neck. "So, it was installed while I was under the control of Gabriel, I was in this trippy dreamland controlled by someone calling himself just "Mr. Strings", he had access to my brain and thoughts and wanted to prove some philosophy right, something about the strength of steel. So he digs through my head and pulls up that old cyborg proposition from the 60s for long term space travel, Project Holon."

"Ah yes, you looked over it once, it was what inspired the Commander to look into the idea of Project Paldea," Bishop added, nodding his head.

"Right, apparently he made it a thing and installed it into me, even giving me a new left hand," Silas finished raising up the dark blued prosthetic. "Instead of titanium plating this thing is carbon alloy or something, it's... sleek for certain. Even has a makeshift stun gun."

~And the shield, don't forget the shield,~ Hacks commented, giving him a look.

Silas nodded and clenched his fingers into a fist, a blue shield pulsed around him. "And that's just the start, from what I can tell I've got a reflex booster and some form of charge ability, sort of a flash step dash kind of deal."

~What we have theorized ourselves is that these implants are meant to help him mimic his pokemon form's abilities while in human form.~

Levincia

-Deziree taps her glasses in thought.-

Deziree: Uh huh... One second.

-She reaches up and taps the shield with her begloved index finger.-

Deziree: Let's see if that resonance signature returns any matches. The ability to shape energy that's solid enough to use a shield without project catches on the edge is weird, and I'm not ruling out that School tech has finally found out a way to allow someone to use Aura through cybernetics.

-Dimo the Electabuzz comes back around the corner of the workshop door.-

Dimo: <Hy gots a table!>

-It is a picnic table.-

-A wooden picnic table that one would see in a park.-

Deziree: Where did you get that?

Dimo: <Somevon just left it on some grass.>

Deziree: ... You better put it back right were you got it when we're done, okay?

-The Electabuzz gives a thumbs-up, looking very proud of himself.-

Silas and Hacks gave Dimo a thumbs up as well. The shield eventually pulsed out and Silas let out a heavy exhale. "Part of running it so long also seems to drain me, the batteries for these are... well I'm not fully certain."

~Using his own aura would be an interesting claim, because he's a blank, that's why Gabriel wanted him under his control. He'd be a fantastic weapon against truants and traitors in his mind,~ Hacks explained.

"Also... I don't think these are school upgrades. Mr. Strings said he and Gabriel only worked together because they had mutual interests, but he was willing to let me out to get back at Gabriel the moment he felt his ideology had been proven," Silas added. "So... we may be lucky and there hopefully won't be more people like me."

Levincia

-Deziree puts on her visor again and checks the readings.-

Deziree: Hm, that's certainly backed up by these readings. It looks like it's using the same sort of hardlight tech that...

-She stops.-

-She pulls her visor up and starts tapping her glasses again.-

Deziree: There's no way.

-She takes out a tuning fork and taps it on the shield while it's still up. She holds the resonating fork to her ear.-

Deziree: ... Bitch.

-Dimo sets the picnic table down. Deziree, meanwhile, goes over to her own pop-up table and grabs a cable, plugging one side into her visor.-

Deziree: I need to see this software. If I'm correct, you may have reverse-engineered Alakagross tech in you, and this gets a whole lot more complicated.

Day 7

Hoops has been waiting in their cave, occasionally emerging to quiet the sounds of battle outside, for a week when someone other than the leaders of the two armies arrives.

The mercenary, as they introduce themself as being, is called Marco. They ride in on a Rapidash, and their Grimmsnarl waits by the entrance of the cave as they walk in.

"Good morning," Hoops says, barely looking up. "Do you want some breakfast? It's quite good if I do say so myself."

Marco decides what the hell, and takes a seat. The meal really is quite good.

"Where did you learn to cook like this?" he asks.

"Here and there," Hoops replies. "I learned some of it in Alola - oh you probably don't know about that yet. The rest I learned from my boyfriend."

"You were taught well," Marco says. "My next question is who are you?"

"A traveller," Hoops says. "From days yet to come. Three thousand years in the future, for that matter. I know what's going to happen to this land, and I'm using every opportunity that I have to find my way home."

Marco nods. "Say I believe that. I've been hired to make you leave. I should let you know that I'm very strong."

Within the darkness of the caves, multiple pairs of eyes open and flash in the firelight, as all the pokémon who had been sleeping rise up.

"I believe it," Hoops says. "But I'm stronger."

Day 26

Eventually the whole army comes. They can't put their war on hold forever, after all, and it's just one stranger who is putting everything to a halt. They pull up outside the cave, and a proclamation is read. A chance for surrender.

Hoops calmly walks with Sal to the front of the cave. They hold up their Z-ring, which still glows with power, and direct that energy into Sal's Inferno Overdrive. The huge fireball scatters the army, making half of the men flee in terror while the others can only pray to their gods. For what else can this creature be - only the pokémon of legend can release power on this scale.

<Power creep> Tot says, as Hoops returns to the cave. <Is a wonderful thing.>

Day 101

Hoops sits with their fingers splayed against their temples, tapping their foot nervously on the floor.

"How much longer?" they ask.

Cof coughs awkwardly. <Not long now. He has to appear soon.>

"How long though?" Hoops asks again. "We're doing nothing but wait in this cave for months. If I have to here Tot sing 'I know It's Today' one more time -"

<Be patient> Led says, putting a hand on their arm. <We'll be home eventually.>

<I agree with Hoops though> Vul says, chiming in. <This wasn't a bad plan, but we need to be proactive. The J-Team time travels all the time, maybe if we leave this place we can intercept them somewhere.>

<The chances of that are slim to nothing> Sud replies. <Staying in one place is the best thing we can do. I know we all want to go home but ->

<Shush.>

<Vul, don't shush me.>

<No, I smell someone coming. Someone new. Someone... perfumed.>

Hoops stands up and moves to the entrance. There is indeed a man outside, who wears the ornately made robes of a king, complete with a crown. He looks to be in his thirties, though his hair is already white.

"I heard about you," he said. "And I expect that you know who I am."

"I do," Hoops says. "It's nice to meet you, your Majesty. King AZ, was it?"

It took Silas a moment to process that, his eyes widened as the realization hit. "Alakagross? What? How?"

~I mean... those ruins keep popping up all over the place. Heck there were some in the Parallel World, they had managed to show up there,~ Hacks pointed out. ~Maybe Mr. Strings is tied-~

"No, there's no way. He didn't strike me as anything living in the regular way, I think he was an AI trying to hide his identity," Silas said.

"An AI, Captain? Are we saying something akin to Porys like me? Dr. Braun from that Pokefutures facility trapped inside the systems? Or OranOS?" Bishop asked.

"Oran OS kind of deal, a self aware machine that isn't a pokemon or a human soul," Silas answered.

Bishop looked to Deziree. "Is it possible for a dedicated AI to uncover or accidentally recreate Alakagross designs?"

"How much danger am I in?" Silas asked.

Levincia

Deziree: In order: Absolutely, and I don't know.

-She takes out a tablet and opens up a picture of a regular human, but with angular hair, metallic sheen on her skin and "clothing", and two eyes that could be mistaken for normal eyes if the camera wasn't hifi enough to catch the space between the LEDs in the displays.-

Deziree: That is Ein. She's a fully sentient and sapient "Robo Trainer" that a rather infamous inventor in Orre created. She's also learned how to replicate Aura Sense, among other things.

-She then checks the results of the first set of tests.-

Deziree: As for if you're in danger... Alright, so, you want to hear a story? We've got some time before the second set of results.

Silas, Bishop, and Hacks looked at each other, Silas opting to sit down at the picnic table. "Go right ahead, I'm good to hear about it, I like to be informed as to what I'm getting into."

~Wanna learn how bad it is before you remove it?~ Hacks asked.

"I want to keep a shield like power, but if it's dangerous to my health and state of being, I think we can find other options, Bishop the ship had a shield generator from the Parallel world right?"

"That it did Captain, but miniaturizing that technology to function in your arm and not have a massive power draw would be quite the challenge," Bishop pointed out.

Silas and Hacks blinked. ~I thought you would have said you didn't have the blueprints.~

"No I always have blueprints, a decent partition of my memory runtime is dedicated to saving all technological blueprints we interact with for the sake of Plan 42."

Silas didn't want to hear more about what that entailed, and looked to Deziree and Dimo.

Levincia

Deziree: Okay, so - you're familiar with the Trio religions, right? For people who follow a Trio, like the Birds, the Beasts, the Swords - you know them.

-She takes out the tablet again and brings up an old stone relief that, despite the water running down it, is sharp and visible. It depicts three floating sprite-like figures.-

Deziree: Apparently, one of the super old religions of the Alakagross focused on the worship and following the teachings of the Lake Trio. Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie.

-She taps a button and the picture zooms out to show that the relief is on the side of a massive building that appears to be in the middle of a light rain. On the sections of the relief, there are Alakazam engaging in different activities depending on which of the Lake sprites they're sectioned with.-

Deziree: They were known as the... well, the translation's a bit weird, but I've figured on calling them the Trinary, a religious sect of Alakazam that sought to embody all three, rather than any one.

-The picture focuses on the first section, showing a sprite with broad, rounded tendrils on its head. A group of Alakazam can be seen depicted, their hands gesticulating as if in discussion.-

Deziree: First is Mesprit. They would honor her by debate and discussion - tests of their societal bonds, and an attempt to keep their philosophy from growing stagnant by granting newer members a sanctioned way of challenging the established doctrine without needing to attack or kill the older members, which... uh... was apparently a common thing in certain parts of the Alakagross Empire.

-The picture then shifts focus to a group of Alakazam meditating underneath a sprite with a rounded cowl around their head.-

Deziree: Uxie was the most popular among the Alakazam, obviously enough. Worship came naturally to them, learning and researching not really changing all that much aside from dedicating yourself to particular subjects.

-The picture shifts again to a group of Alakazam taking martial poses underneath a sprite with a very pointed head.-

Deziree: Azelf worship was exceedingly rare among the Alakazam. From what I can tell, the Trinary, even being as small as they were, were one of the only officially recognized places that worshiped Azelf. Here, the worshiped with martial training, especially physical training, which was unheard of for Alakazam in general, but apparently they were very dangerous nevertheless.

-The picture shifts to the center of the mural, where an Alakazam is shown with... strange proportions on certain body parts.-

Deziree: To honor all three, this sect apparently made use of "bodily amplifiers" that combined the honoring of Mesprit's heart, Uxie's knowledge, and Azelf's valor. In modern terms, they were all cyborgs. Not full-conversion - that would be denying Mesprit, which was considered taboo to progress that far into the teachings and yet deny such a fundamental tenet of the sect. That, and all of their enhancements - at least as far as my source is aware - improved their capabilities as Alakazam rather than giving them new ones.

-Deziree lets her visor beep a bit before continuing.-

Deziree: Now, if what I suspect is true, and that these modifications of yours are either based on or convergent evolutions of Trinary designs, then we at least have a good understanding as to the limits of what they're capable of. Unfortunately, the devil's in the details, and until these scans finish I have no idea where the energy is even being sourced from. Could be your body's natural electrolytes, could be your ambient Aura just from living, could be taking sugar out of your bloodstream, you get the picture.

Edited by DuneTheWanderer on Feb 15th 2024 at 9:47:12 AM

"Well, I at least know the reflex booster is of human design, Project Holon pointed out a need for advanced reflexes in space," Silas said. "So, the concern is what's powering them, that's... that's actually better than what I was worried about."

~Were you thinking about evil tech attempting to assimilate your body?~ Hacks asked.

"Were you?" Silas countered. Hacks didn't reply, the answer was pretty clear.

"The Captain had his own theory as to what the power source was," Bishop interjected. "Something about humans generating their own infinite energy as well, ambient aura from life powering it."

"It's a hypothesis more than anything," Silas admitted. "And the whole "enhance abilites" makes some sense, it gave me moves similar to my pokemon form."

~Yeah... what would happen if you tried using those implants in pokemon form?~ Hacks commented, a slight laugh in his tone.

A look of shock crossed Silas's face, he looked to Deziree and held up his green scarf. "Think I should test that idea?"

Levincia

-Before Silas has even turned back to Deziree, she's already fiddling with what looks like a broad spectrum radio transmitter, but focused by a dish and obviously set up for more than just radio waves.-

-She puts her goggles on and gives a thumbs up.-

Deziree: Go for it!

Silas pulled on the scarf, and let the pokemon form wash over him. He rolled his shoulders a bit, feeling the whirring of the servos in his prosthetic. <Okay, ready.>

~Try the shield first,~ Hacks said.

Silas raised his left arm, and clenched his paw into a fist... nothing. He blinked, and did so a few more times, again and again, still nothing. <Huh... no shield.>

~Weird. What about the reflex booster?~

<We need a better name for it, but, sure let me try.>

Silas focused ahead and attempted to trigger it, he darted forward but it felt so much different. He had just used extreme speed, he looked about, and darted about the workshop a few more times. No dash system or reflex booster used, it was all extreme speed.

~Huh... the shocking grasp?~

Silas held up the left paw and focused on the gold tipped ends, he wanted to see the electric spark fly... and nothing happened. <Weird.>

"I think the Captain's implants deactivate themselves when he's in pokemon form," Bishop commented. "That is the running hypothesis so far."